For the past 18 years, the newsletter of Royal Statistical Society has published a fiendish Christmas quiz for its members. The quiz is a searching test of general knowledge, logic and lateral thinking, although no specialist statistical or mathematical knowledge is required to answer any of the questions. The 2011 version of this annual challenge appears below – are you up to the task?

Competition entries should be sent by email to rssquiz@rss.org.uk by 18.00 GMT, Wednesday 11 January. Competitors may find question titles helpful in solving some questions, and in three questions the title should be explained in order to receive full marks.

3. A curious incident (10 points)

Holmes and Watson repeatedly interview six suspects isolated in rooms arranged clockwise as follows: Mustard, Plum, Green, Peacock, Scarlett, White. Each room is connected to its immediate neighbours anti-clockwise and clockwise neighbours; eg the room holding Mustard is connected to the room holding White (anticlockwise) and the room holding Plum (clockwise), the room holding Green is connected to the room holding Plum (anticlockwise) and Peacock (clockwise) and so on. Holmes interviews Mustard first.

His interviews each last 15 minutes; at the end of each, he moves one room clockwise and begins his next interview. Watson interviews White first. His interviews each last 20 minutes; at the end of each, he moves one room anticlockwise and begins his next interview. If either investigator enters a room in which an interview is already taking place, he runs through to the next room and immediately starts a new interview there instead. Meanwhile, Wellington starts in the same room as Mustard, sleeps for 30 minutes and then moves one room anticlockwise, repeating this every 30 minutes. When Holmes enters a room in which Watson is conducting an interview and Wellington is asleep, Wellington fails to bark, and Holmes proclaims that he has already concluded that the suspect present stands guilty of stealing the silver. Who is the culprit?

Description: quiz 2011

4. Greek apparitions (8 points)

What do the following have in common with one with innocent eyes, one of America's sweethearts, and (twice) one who apologised for poetry?

5. Ulysses and the lion (6 points)

If Scotsman Adam equals American Andrew, and Canadian John equals twice New Zealander Edmund, then which Australian man equals Englishman Charles?

6. Upper and lower (6 points)

Explain the following linked sequences:

10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66, 96, ...

1, 4, 3, 11, 15, 13, 17, ...

7. Literary notes (10 points)

The words in each of these lines may begin to evoke a country. Name the four countries.

(a) George Eliot concocts exceptionally generous cocktails

(b) Gertrude Bell adores good dry champagne

(c) Geoffrey Chaucer grabs a beer

(d) Catherine Cookson's boozy chums don't act gracefully

8. Number sequences (14 points)

Identify the following. In (a) and (c), provide the missing elements, indicated by question marks [in (c), the last element has an order of magnitude smaller than the others put together]. In (b), there are several missing elements, which need not be identified.

9. Matching pairs (20 points)

In each of (a)-(e), pair each member of Group 1 to the element of Group 2 with which it shares a connection. Connections should be described as precisely as possible. In (d), the only five eligible pairs are listed. In (e), one element is to be identified.